The captain of the broken-arm cavalry was quite tough; he tore up an Icecoat Scroll and held it against the broken arm, temporarily stopping the surging blood. He fished out a blue magic crystal from a belt next to the saddle and threw it to Dinora: "This is a standard-sized premium magic crystal, equivalent to two hundred gold coins. It's up to you to hold him back."
Dinora exclaimed joyfully, "This person is mine!" She took the magic crystal and put it in her waist, blocking the assassin in front of her with her broad sword. The captain of the cavalry pulled the reins fiercely, and the war horse let out a neigh, galloping towards Aoba City.
It seemed that neither of them cared at all about what the assassin said about the "curse of the demon god," which seemed strange to Ge Zheng. Although he had little contact with Dinora, he could tell that this hearty female warrior was not the kind of person who would sell out everything for money.
The assassin watched the departing knight and then looked at the three in front of him, shook his head with a sigh, suddenly turned around, and disappeared into the roadside weeds.
Dinora thought he was cautions and was wary for a long time, until a curved moon appeared in the sky, and the assassin did not show up. Dinora put away her broad sword, somewhat surprised, and said, "These two hundred gold coins were too easy to earn. Huh... Aren't you the alchemist from Wanshan City?" Dinora finally noticed the three people.
Ge Zheng asked the question in his mind, "Aren't you worried about the knight carrying the curse of the demon god?" Dinora laughed heartily with hands on her hips, with no coyness typical of a regular girl visible in her smile: "Curse of the demon god? Don't you know that there are countless legends of gods and demons on the Starry Sky Continent? These kinds of terrible prophecies occur dozens of times every day on this continent. If it were true, the entire continent would have been destroyed hundreds of times already."
"But..." Ge Zheng felt that the assassin's skills were extraordinary and should not be the kind of person to act on a lie. But Dinora, obviously, did not care about this matter, and she enthusiastically patted Ge Zheng on the shoulder, "Come on, I just helped the captain of the cavalry. Let's see if we can try the back door, and ask his subordinates to help us open the city gate." Ge Zheng shook his head and said no more.
The four came to the city gate, and Kongmings peeked inside from the crack in the gate and couldn't help but take a deep breath: the defense inside the city gate was very tight, the soldiers were on high alert. With swords drawn and arrows nocked, this posture didn't look like that of a peaceful period at all.
The four people had no choice but to find a place to stay in the city gate for the night.
The talkative desert elf pulled the blanket around himself and muttered, "Damn it, has that guy Mango Toot cursed me? Why do I always end up spending the night at the city gate recently?"
Aoba City is one of the three major cities on the southern border of the Starry Sky Continent, with a population of six hundred thousand, which is three times the size of Wanshan City. Such a huge city consumes a huge amount of food and vegetables every day. Before dawn, the first wave of farmers bringing in produce was already coming from the four yellow earth roads outside the city gate with their ox carts. The small hills of hemp bags on the carts looked like they were being taken away by them, and they had to be returned on time every day.
They brought in the food, and then they had to go door to door to collect the chamber pots. If they delayed, they would not be able to finish today's work, and they would have to pay more for the carts. However, today the soldiers received orders and refused to open the city gate, insisting on waiting for the sun to rise, so the farmers and soldiers soon got into an argument.
Dinora was definitely a straightforward woman. Seeing the soldiers' firm attitude and no hope of entering the city, she picked her ears with her fingers, wrapped herself in a blanket, and fell back asleep.
After a while of arguing with the soldiers, a line of arrowheads poked out from the gap behind the gate, and the outside farmers quickly fell silent; no one dared to confront the well-equipped military force. It seemed that the military's high alert was overly cautious. Until the first light appeared in the east, besides the farmers and the four others, there were no other living creatures walking upright outside Aoba City.
"Clanging, clanging, clanging..." the soldiers turned the winch and pulled up the chains, raising the iron gate with sharp iron spikes welded to the outside. As the iron gate slowly opened, the heavy city gates followed suit. The farmers drove their ox carts into Aoba City, where complaints were already ringing out inside the city.
The convoy entered the city and formed a line on the straight stone street behind the city gates. When the last large cart entered the city gate, Ge Zheng suddenly felt that something was wrong. He glanced at the cart and frowned, pulling the others back and said, "Back up a bit..." Dinora, still groggy from sleep, rubbed her nose and asked, "Back up? Why..."
Dunk and Kongmings obeyed, and just as the three had withdrawn from the city gate, something unexpected happened! The hemp bags on the flatbed of the large cart suddenly emitted a eerie green light, and the bags shook violently. With a loud bang, the entire city wall clearly shook, and the shockwave directly threw the still-drowsy Dinora out. The green light surged; the iron gate, in the green light, seemed to melt like a popsicle in the sunlight, and drops of molten iron fell to the ground, splattering black dots. The stout and sturdy city gate turned into ant-like wood chips all over the ground!
"Sss..." the cowhide on the city gate suddenly tore open, and fierce beasts emerged from inside. The farmers also suddenly took on another face, pulling out weapons and armor from the cart, mounting the fierce beasts, and shouting as they rushed towards the city.
Near the city gate, the guards were all radiated by the green light, and in a moment, only a skeleton remained. The green light burned like a flame, then gradually went out. Ge Zheng walked into the city, saw the cowhide, and his expression changed: "Alchemy disguise!"
At such a close range, he did not detect it. It seemed that these people were backed by an outstanding alchemist.
A vague sound of horse hooves came from the depths of the street, where a fierce battle was underway. On both sides of the street, the residents kept their doors tightly closed. Fortunately, it was early in the morning and not many people were out. The two Beastmen Knights did not harm the civilians in the street. They seemed to be more like an adventurous team with a clear purpose rather than an ordinary group of thieves. Therefore, after entering the city with cunning, they immediately rushed towards their target.
Ge Zheng decided not to meddle in others' affairs, especially when there were nearly a hundred knights able to ride on magical beasts, as their strength was equivalent to a cavalry troop of a thousand. Even if he wanted to interfere, he couldn't. Ge Zheng knew he had some abilities, but they weren't enough to take on a whole cavalry troop.
It seemed that their strength was quite different from his own.
Honest Dunk walked into the city gate carrying Diora and Cons. The desert fairy was cautious every step of the way, looking around anxiously, and said to Dunk, "Don't worry, I have battle experience. Follow me and you'll be safe..." The battle experience he mentioned was from the time he helped defend Mangstutt. Cons stood there gloriously among the crowd defending Mangstutt, but he didn't even move or use his mouth, let alone his hands.
Ge Zheng's ears twitched. "They're coming out, let's take cover." Just as the three turned into a nearby alley, thunderous sounds rolled in from the street. There were no city guards near the gate, and the swift and agile beast knights swiftly and quickly entered the city, taking only a quarter of an hour to find what they were looking for, and then rushed back the same way. The city defense force reacted slowly, and couldn't even fill in the defense gap near the gate—if they managed to, what would be the use? Without city gates and iron gates to rely on, the beast knights would not be stopped by human strength alone.
From the alley, Cons secretly looked outside and saw a torrent of steel beasts coming their way. The knights' equipment was top-notch. He had been with Ge Zheng for some time, so he had a keen eye for it. Considering the equipment alone, the armor and weapons on these knights' bodies were far better than the champion armies in the various empires on the continent!
The styles and colors of the equipment on the beast knights varied, but the only consistency was the silver metal masks on their faces. A rose bloomed on the forehead of the masks, while a few small twisted snakes were entwined on their cheeks.
Below the rose, and above the snakes, their eyes emitted emotionless light, clearly indicating that they were real warriors who had shaken hands with death on the brink of life and death.
Not only the knights, but the beasts they rode were also heavily armored. With the beasts' strong physique as a backing, even though they were clad in heavy armor, they ran effortlessly. A troop of such heavy armored beast riders, with their strong and resilient physique, could surely be considered the most powerful heavy cavalry on the continent! With the weight of the beasts already larger than warhorses, adding such heavy armor made this troop undoubtedly the most powerful heavy cavalry on the continent! With the beasts' strong physique as a backing, even though they were clad in heavy armor, they ran effortlessly. A troop of such heavy armored beast riders, with their strong and resilient physique, could surely be considered the most powerful heavy cavalry on the continent! With the weight of the beasts already larger than warhorses, adding such heavy armor made this troop undoubtedly the most powerful heavy cavalry on the continent!
The knight at the front waved a long-handled battle axe in his hand. The blade was sharp, and the back was a pointed cone. It was a heavy weapon in the hands of others, but in his hands, it was as agile as a single-handed sword. As the beast charged, the knight wielded the battle axe with one hand, constantly twisting his wrist. The axe cut out silver crescent-shaped glints.
A group of city defense soldiers poured out from the alleys on both sides of the street. The spear soldiers quickly lined up in three rows on the street, with their two-meter-long spears leaning at a forty-five-degree angle against the cobblestone road. In front of them were a row of shield soldiers protecting the spear soldiers.
This was the only way for infantry to counter cavalry.
If it were an ordinary cavalry, the combination of shield soldiers and spear soldiers in such a narrow street would undoubtedly be an insurmountable barrier. However, for these beast knights, this barrier seemed somewhat fragile.
Among the city defense force were also skilled warriors, and in the alley, a general with a bright plume was arranging deployments. Behind the first line of defense, he deployed three more identical defenses, each spaced no more than twenty meters apart. This distance allowed the defenses to not interfere with each other, but also prevented the enemy cavalry from having enough distance to charge again after breaking through the first line of defense.
The speed of the beast cavalry did not diminish, and it seemed as if the sharp spears were nothing but straw.
"Haha!" The leading knight suddenly roared, and with a snap of his reins, the giant lion-shaped beast under him accelerated, and the knight raised his battle axe, and with a swing from bottom to top, he emitted a colorful light from within himself. This light burst out of his body, flowed onto the battle axe along his arm, and then turned into a crescent-shaped light sweep with the swing of the battle axe. Ge Zheng was surprised: "A seven-colored combat Qi, this guy is a level ten Battle Commander, his strength exceeds Dragon Mai."
The crescent-shaped light, three meters high and about a meter wide, cut a deep trench half a meter into the ground, and sparkled around it with rapid bursts of fire, flying through the air with a sharp whistle.
The soldiers didn't even have a thought of resistance; this combat technique was too fast. From the knight's eruption of combat Qi, to striking, to the seven-colored crescent attack on the front shield soldier, it all happened in the blink of an eye. The four-finger-thick shield shattered like dead leaves, and within the bursting seven-colored light, the defense line sparked a series of explosions, as if a huge blade was chopping the defense line in the air. It instantly shattered the whole defense line and the ground beneath their feet.
The second crescent strike broke the second defense line and continued toward the third, one after the other, leaving nothing in its path. The fourth crescent attack continued its journey, and all four crescents had devastating energy, each absorbing the remnants of the previous strike, becoming the strongest by the end.
With a "boom," it landed on the fourth defense line, shattering it to pieces! As the beast cavalry rolled through the streets like a fierce wind, there was no chance for anyone to survive.
As the leading beast knight charged through the alley, he suddenly turned his head, and two cold lights glinted behind his mask, as if he was throwing a spear at the general in the alley.
"Ha-ha-ha!" The beast knight burst into laughter. There was a row of baby head-sized flying hammers on the side of the beast saddle. One of them suddenly jumped out, and once again, the knight burst into a dazzling seven-colored light. With a swing of the battle axe, the flying hammer turned into a silver meteor and flew toward the general.
The general drew out a knife, and with a swift movement, the meteor stopped right in front of him, breaking into nine even pieces. Ge Zheng squinted his eyes at the shining light. Diora, draped in a blanket, had appeared beside him and had also noticed the intricacies of the attack. Even the proud female warrior couldn't help but say, "Impressive! This attack actually concealed four transformations within it. It looks like a single strike, but it actually delivers two cuts on each side, slicing the flying hammer into nine pieces!"
Diora was a warrior who saw the complexity of the attack, while Ge Zheng, an alchemist, saw another scene: "Such a sharp weapon, it cuts iron like cutting tofu; it must have been forged with Sea-Sinking Iron."
The movement of the beast knight's shoulder plate caught Cons' attention, and she looked at Ge Zheng with a meaningful glance. "Do you think they are completely focused on fighting in battle and won't notice us?"
"Clang, clang, clang, clang," the general unleashed four strikes within a single move, blocking the two axes and the two claws of the giant lion. Suddenly, the general emitted a burst of seven-colored light, revealing that he was also a level ten battle commander! The beast knight's axe was blocked, and the giant beast's roar obstructed the general's pursuit, pushing him back.
The two cuts the general made were extremely sharp, and with the use of a magic-free sword, they cut through the armor on the lion's claws, leaving two bloody marks. When the giant lion landed, it noticeably felt a bit soft in its front paws.
The knight's steed was clearly no match for the giant lion, and the usually swift and courageous warhorse was now hesitant and trembling.
The knight sighed and thought to himself, "If it weren't for my mount holding me back today, I would definitely make them stay."
When the beast knight's attack failed, the giant lion landed and then, with a backswing of his axe, it seemed that the coordination between the man and the beast was extremely tacit. Just as the giant lion lifted his hind claws, the axe came crashing down from above. The knight stopped his pursuit and, spinning his body on the horse, abruptly defended with his armor, narrowly dodging the lion's hind claws. At the same time, he lifted his sword upwards and pointed the sharp blade directly at the thinnest part of the general's chest.
Just as the knight was about to strike, the giant lion roared, springing into the air, and, with a single leap, it appeared in mid-air over the general. The battle axe precipitated down from the air like a thunderbolt.
The general responded swiftly, demonstrating four techniques in a single move again.
"Great swordsmanship!" Diora suddenly yelled from behind. "Once my wounds have healed, I must fight him!" Ge Zheng turned to look at her, and helplessly said, "Thank goodness that group of beast knights has left, otherwise, with your volume, we would have surely been discovered."
Diora noticed a movement in the knight's shoulder plate and made eye contact with Ge Zheng. "Do you think people are completely focused on fighting and won't notice us?" she gestured.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang," four consecutive sounds rang out as the general executed four moves in one. The two slashes opened from left and right, forcing the knight's battle axe onto the beast's claws, blocking the lion from pouncing at the knight as it descended.
At that moment, the general emitted a burst of seven-colored light, revealing that he was also a level ten battle commander! The battle axe being blocked, the giant beast roared, leaping once again and blocking the pursuing general. The two strikes were extremely sharp, further enhanced by the use of a treasured sword. Though it didn't have magic effects, they cut the armor on the lion's claws, leaving bloody trails. When the lion landed, it's front paws were noticeably soft.